Wed. Dec. 10 - URGENT NEWS ALERT: Deadly threats to American Pastor Saeed are increasing.We have just learned that he has been repeatedly robbed and threatened at knifepoint by fellow prisoners in the deadly Iranian prison to which he has been transferred.His health is quickly deteriorating. Iranian authorities refuse to give him medication and deplorable prison conditions have led to lice, malnourishment, and weight loss.Iran has sent him to disappear. The U.S. government has abandoned this U.S. citizen. Pastor Saeed has been left for dead.We must be his voice.I, along with ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, am in Europe meeting with key world leaders urging pressure on Iran for Saeed's release.Join us in these meetings by signing our petition, and let the world know Pastor Saeed is not forgotten.Sign the Petition to Stand with Pastor Saeed at BeHeardProject.com. [BE SURE TO SIGN THE PETITION AND STOP AND PRAY NOW FOR PASTOR SAEED AND THAT HIS RELEASE WOULD BE FINALLY SECURED!
SIGN A PETITION TO THE UN FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHRISTIANS :" The church in Syria has shone brightly for 2,000 years. But today violence and persecution threatens its survival. Thanks to an incredible response, Open Doors is helping 8,000 families in Syria survive each month. We believe the signatures and prayers of 500,000 people will encourage the UN to act and protect the rights and lives of all Syrians, especially the vulnerable Christian community." Go to: http://lp.opendoorsusa.org/emails/nov-13-action/save-syria.html?utm_source=action&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button&utm_campaign=november
URGENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
North Korea Detains 85-Year-Old American Veteran - CBNNews.com; November 21, 2013; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/North-Korea-Detains-85-Year-Old-American-Veteran/ - "North Korea has detained another American, this time an 85-year-old veteran of the Korean War...Merrill Newman took a sight-seeing trip to North Korea in late October."[PRAY that Mr. Merrill will be finally released and can return to his family.]
"Missionary in Philippines: 'Bodies Laying Everywhere'- By Dale Hurd and Heather Sells, November 12; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Truckloads-of-Bodies-Filipinos-Plead-for-Help/ - [PRAY that relief supplies will get to the needed area in time to help the tens of thousands who are in great need. PRAY that security can be established in the midst of looters causing problems in the midst of the devastation. - Stan]
NEWS ALERT: Oct. 23: "Christians Fleeing IRAQ Area Once Considered Safe," - CBNNews.com, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/October/Christians-Fleeing-Iraq-Area-Once-Considered-Safe/ PRAY that believers in Iraq will know God's protection and provision; that believers will know[ whether they are called to flee or remain and persevere; and that their persecutors may come to hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ. - Stan]
Continue to Pray for EGYPT - Continue to pray for the tense situation in Egypt and especially for the Christian believers who are being targeted with violence by Muslim Brotherhood members.]
Update on Kenneth Bae: "US Ready to Bargain with N. Korea for Bae's Release,"- CBNNews.com, Aug 14, 2013 http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/August/S-Ready-to-Bargain-with-N-Korea-for-Baes-Release/ - The United States is willing to engage North Korea to secure the release of imprisoned American Christian Kenneth Bae. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the United States is "willing to consider a number of different options" to bring him home.In a video recently released by a North Korean newspaper, Bae requested the United States send a high-ranking official to North Korea to seek his pardon. It is unclear if he spoke of his own volition in the video. Bae, 45, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for sharing his faith. He suffers health problems such as diabetes and is currently hospitalized.[PRAY for 1) God's healing of and presence with Pastor Bae, 2) His earliest release by the North Korean government, and 3) God's comfort for his family and friends.]
NEWS ALERT: Monday, November 04, 2013 - Saeed's Life in [Greater] Jeopardy After Prison Transfer - CBNNews.com, ; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/November/Saeeds-Life-in-Jeopardy-after-Prison-Transfer/ IRAN - Vigils Mark One Year Imprisonment of Pastor Saeed - CBNNews.com, Thursday, September 26, 2013 - Today marks one-year that American pastor Saeed Abedini has been held in an Iranian prison. He is serving an eight-year sentence because of his Christian faith. It has been a year of torment as he has suffered beatings, physical pain from untreated medical conditions, and separation from his wife and two children... The suffering has not dampened his passion for Jesus. Pastor Abedini has led more than 30 prisoners to Christ during his time in prison. This afternoon, thousands of Americans from coast to coast will pray for his release. Events will be held in 40 states at capitols, city halls, parks and churches. Thousands more will join from 15 nations around the world
PRAY: - For comfort and peace for Saeed’s wife and children here in the U.S.\
- For a strong witness and testimony from Pastor Abedini in the prison where God has placed him
- For Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ
- BOLDly (Beside Our Leaders Daily) for leadership from the White House and State Department in defending the freedoms of Abedini and other Americans
- GO TO SaveSaeed.org to sign a petition over 600,000 others asking for his immediate release
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"Paying in Blood - The Global War on Christians (part 1)" - By: Eric Metaxas|Breakpoint.org, December 2, 2013; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/23969?spMailingID=7494198&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=102222522&spReportId=MTAyMjIyNTIyS0
[NOTE: If you have been to this blog site even a few times, you know that I always highlight at the outset about hardships faced by Christians around the world. And so, what is described in this and posts that follow in this series should not surprise you. What I do find surprising and disheartening is how rarely the average church\ in America take note of this and comes along side our brothers and sisters in Christ if but to pray for them at some time. - Stan]
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"Paying in Blood - The Global War on Christians (part 1)" - By: Eric Metaxas|Breakpoint.org, December 2, 2013; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/23969?spMailingID=7494198&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=102222522&spReportId=MTAyMjIyNTIyS0
"Paying in Blood - The Global War on Christians (part 1)" - By: Eric Metaxas|Breakpoint.org, December 2, 2013; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/23969?spMailingID=7494198&spUserID=MTMyMjM2ODE5OQS2&spJobID=102222522&spReportId=MTAyMjIyNTIyS0
We’re at war. Or at least, war is being waged on our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe...
Sometime in November, the North Korean regime publicly executed eighty people in seven cities across the country. In each instance, a crowd was forced to watch as ten people, their heads covered with white bags, were tied to stakes and machine gunned to death.The “crimes” for which these people were put to death were “watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, or involvement in prostitution, [or] possessing a Bible.” That’s right. Possessing a Bible.
While what happened last month was horrific, it should not come as a surprise. North Korea “enjoys” the dubious distinction of being the “most hazardous nation on earth in which to be a Christian” for eleven consecutive years.That’s according to Open Doors, an organization that monitors persecution of Christians around the world.
There’s another reason why the executions shouldn’t come as a complete surprise: we are in the midst of what John L. Allen has called a “global war on Christians.” That’s the title of his new book. In keeping with the subtitle–-“Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution”-–Allen provides snapshots of the suffering of Christians around the world.And nowhere is that suffering more pronounced than in North Korea. There, the regime engages, in Allen’s words, “in systematic barbarity against Christians and other perceived dissidents reminiscent of the world’s most appalling human rights violations, such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, and the killing fields of Cambodia.”
An estimated one-quarter of the country’s Christians are behind bars. There, “as many as 70 percent of these prisoners are ‘severely malnourished,’ and ‘torture, rape, and public executions are common.’ ” For those who aren’t behind bars, life in this police state/mass cult is just as bad. In a scene that hearkened back to the early church in the Roman Empire, pastors who refused to participate in the personality cult built around the ruling Kim family experienced their church bulldozed with them in it.
As horrendous as these stories are, they’re unfortunately only a small part of the persecution Christians face every day all around the world. As Allen notes, according to a study by the Pew Forum, “between 2006 and 2010 . . . Christians had been harassed in a total of 139 nations, which is almost three-quarters of all the countries on earth.” The International Society for Human Rights has estimated that “80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.” This harassment and discrimination takes many forms: institutional and employment discrimination, suppression of missionary activity to the ultimate form of discrimination, death.
Allen notes that estimates of the number of Christians who are killed because they are Christian range from 7,300 to 100,000 every year. Even at the low end, that represents nearly one per hour.
As Allen writes, “[I grew] up a Catholic in western Kansas during the 1970s and 80s, and the closest I ever came to suffering for the faith was eating fish sticks or macaroni and cheese on Fridays during Lent.” Researching Christian persecution around the world drove home the fact that “there’s something so precious about faith in Christ and membership in the church that, when push comes to shove, ordinary people will pay in blood rather than let it go.”
That’s why we’re going to spend the next few days discussing Allen’s book. We owe it to our suffering brethren to make their stories known. Please tune in. [Look for Part 2 in the next blog post.]
[bold and italics emphassi mine]
FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION
The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution - John Allen | Image | October 2013
"Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion," - Religion & Public Life Project |Pew Forum | September 20, 2012; http://www.pewforum.org/2012/09/20/rising-tide-of-restrictions-on-religion-findings/
"North Korea publicly executes 80, some for videos or Bibles, report says" - FOX News | November 12, 2013;http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/12/north-korea-publicly-executes-80-for-crimes-like-watching-films-owning-bible/
Open Doors USA website [OpenDoorsUSA.org]
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